• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on TwitterFollow Us on InstagramFollow Us on YouTubeRSS Feed

Kimberly Howell Properties

San Antonio Real Estate

office@kimberlyhowell.com
(210) 493-6888
  • Blog
  • About Us
  • Agents
  • Buyers
    • Neighborhoods
    • Relocation Information
  • Sellers
  • Listings
    • Available Rentals
    • Homes for Sale
    • McNair Custom Homes
  • Contact
  • Rental SearchHomes for Rent
  • REALTORS®Find an Agent
  • McNair Custom HomesNew Construction
  • Property SearchHomes for Sale
You are here: Home / Technology / Real Estate Agents and SEO: Learn What Not to Do

Real Estate Agents and SEO: Learn What Not to Do

October 24, 2016 by Matt Stigliano 1 Comment

SEO for Real Estate

This post is for all the real estate agents out there who read our blog…

SEO, or search engine optimization, is a word that gets thrown around a lot. It’s an ever changing world of tips and tricks to help get your website noticed and many people don’t have the time or skill to learn it or keep up with it as it evolves. Real estate agents, hungry for more traffic to their websites, often employ SEO companies to help them boost their sites in search engine rankings so they can get noticed. What they don’t know, is how many of these companies are doing it. As someone who spends a lot of time fiddling and tweaking their real estate website, I know a thing or two about the internet. I wouldn’t call myself an expert, there are people out there with far more knowledge and experience (and I turn to them often for advice and information), but I do know enough to know that real estate agents need to stop wasting their money on some of the garbage tactics that I’m seeing more and more of.

SEO: The Linkback

One of the best known tools for generating better search page rankings is the linkback. Every time Google sees a link heading back to your site with appropriate keywords, it starts to think “wait a minute, if everyone is linking back to this site, it must be important” and when Google starts to believe something is important, it begins pushing the value of that site up in their search engine results. The more links, the better your exposure to people searching for keywords related to your website’s topic.

Links are not easy to come by though. Many sites block the search engines from seeing and cataloging these outbound links, so as not to open up the floodgates to a flurry of spam comments with no purpose other than to gain linkbacks. However, some websites use what’s known as “dofollow” to allow such links to be read and cataloged by the search engines. We are an example of such a site. We believe in a more open, sharing web where we are more than happy to give our fellow webmasters and bloggers what tiny little boost we can provide in return for them stopping by our site and opening up good conversation.

But, this same openness can be abused…and it is quite often. An agent or real estate brokerage pays a company oodles of money to “get them to page one of Google” and these companies set out to spam the internet with garbage comments on sites like ours that allow links so that they might get a bit of a boost from what we have created. We don’t mind giving anyone a boost (as long as they’re a legit company and not trying to do something scammy or nefarious). What we do mind is watching agents waste their hard earned money chasing a dream without any understanding of what it is they’re chasing or how the company they have chosen is going about doing it. We see instances on this site all the time of links back to agents, some that we even know and respect greatly, where the actual comment is nothing more than some gibberish in order to just comment for the sake of getting that link. What does that say about the owner of the website it is linking to?

An SEO Appeal To All Real Estate Agents

Instead of hiring these companies and throwing your money at them, take same time to understand what it is they are doing for you. Get involved. Want a link on our site? Comment on our posts and leave your link in the field provided, but don’t just comment blindly. Take a moment to talk about the subject at hand – discuss, dissect, and add to the conversation. Give your thoughts, stories, anecdotes, and relevant additions. By being a part of the community, you not only get a link, but you also show people who you are. Agent from another company? Go ahead and comment on our website. We’d love to hear your thoughts. (Keep the need to advertise out of the picture – if you’re awesome, people will recognize that, we don’t need your phone number and company name plastered after every sentence.) We have a ton of content here on the site and there is sure to be something that you know a lot about or feel passionately about or even have some extra information to bring to the table (some of the posts are much older and as we know, rules and laws change, so maybe there’s an update that you’d like to discuss). We as an industry should be and can be more of a community – and we’d love to be a part of making that happen.

And if you’re an agent in San Antonio or surrounding areas, feel free to drop by and comment. I know in talking to many of you in person that you read our website. We love reading other blogs and we’d love to see more of them in San Antonio. Build a website and get involved in helping educate and inform the buyers and sellers of all the things we see on a daily basis. The more they know and understand what we do, the more we can do for them as an industry. Just stop wasting your money on junk services – we get the calls all day long, so we know what these snake oil peddlers are selling you. Don’t be impressed by fancy tech-speak and “we work with Google” sales tactics. You want linkbacks and a boost in your SEO? It’s right in front of you and you can get more out of some personal involvement than a poorly spelled, grammar destroying, nonsense filled post. Would you hire a doctor based on a comment and link if they posted an unfocused, rambling comment about the latest advances in neurology on a blog about the best ice cream in Texas? Probably not.

So come on over and have a seat. Read, comment, get involved, and boost your website’s SEO all while having a bit of fun with the real estate community. It’s not nearly as hard as those sales people make it sound.

PS If you’re a Realtor interested in blogging about local real estate and are looking for a new brokerage, let us know. We are always looking for ways to expand our website and the content we provide. Our website has grown by leaps and bounds over the past few years and we can provide you with a platform for your voice to be heard and your business to grow.

image courtesy of Christian Schnettelker

Related Posts

  • Free Events in San Antonio – San Antonio Resource for Free ActivitiesFree Events in San Antonio – San Antonio Resource for Free Activities
  • New Search Capabilities with Our WebsiteNew Search Capabilities with Our Website
  • Introducing SkySlope: Paperless Transaction ManagementIntroducing SkySlope: Paperless Transaction Management
  • Why Don’t You Have a Gravatar?Why Don’t You Have a Gravatar?
  • Can’t Find the Manuals for Your Appliances? Try ManualsLib.Can’t Find the Manuals for Your Appliances? Try ManualsLib.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: real estate agents, blogs, websites, seo

Quick Search

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Residential Real Estate Agents says

    November 22, 2016 at 10:56 AM

    Thanks Matt Stigliano. You discussed a very important fact. As a webmaster i know most of the person do Spam on other’s blog. They even don’t read the blog content. They just copy a general text and post it everywhere with their website link. As a SEO expert i know its very bad. It contains negative impression for the site to search engines like google. You are right you need to be a part of the community. You should comment some important things relates to the post. Otherwise it will treat as spam comment. We should create value for the post with our comment.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Stay up to date with the latest from Kimberly Howell Properties.

Loans

Credit Healthy – Credit Scores, Lenders, and Pre-Approval Letters

Agent Joyce Marie Jackson returns for another installment in her "Credit Healthy" series with information about the all important pre-approval. A very important step in the process of buying a home, a lender's … [Read More...] about Credit Healthy – Credit Scores, Lenders, and Pre-Approval Letters

FOMO

How To Create Real Estate FOMO

This week, we turn the keys over to agent Tatiana Delaserna and let her take over the blog. In this post, Tatiana discusses "FOMO" - we don't want to spoil her article, but we have to say, it's a very real … [Read More...] about How To Create Real Estate FOMO

Congratualtions

You Passed Your Real Estate Exam – Now What?

Once upon a time, we all started at the beginning, with a fresh new real estate license in our hands and a ton of things to learn in front of us...being licensed is one thing, but becoming an incredible agent … [Read More...] about You Passed Your Real Estate Exam – Now What?

Credit Healthy

Credit Healthy – Build It Right From Ground Zero

When it comes to buying a home, few things are more important than your credit. The better it is, the more buying power you have. In this article the first is a series of posts entitled "Credit Healthy," … [Read More...] about Credit Healthy – Build It Right From Ground Zero

Moving In

Things to Do After You Move In

It's move in day! Moving into a new home is an exciting time. So much to do; trying to remember where you put your spoons or your coffee mugs, running up and down steps, paying the movers, meeting the … [Read More...] about Things to Do After You Move In

Search Our Site

Real Estate Topics

  • Buying a Home
  • Homeowner Tips
  • KHP News
  • Local Events
  • Local Laws
  • Miscellaneous
  • Mortgages and Financing
  • Open Houses
  • Real Estate
  • Real Estate Market
  • Renters and Landlords
  • San Antonio Places
  • Sell Your Home
  • Technology
Our real estate agents can help you with properties anywhere in Texas. If you need assistance finding agents in other parts of the country, please contact us.

Search Homes

Explore Cities

  • Alamo Heights 48 Listings
  • Bandera 440 Listings
  • Blanco 171 Listings
  • Boerne 940 Listings
  • Bulverde 157 Listings
  • Canyon Lake 380 Listings
  • Castle Hills 40 Listings
  • Castroville 84 Listings
  • Cibolo 303 Listings
  • Comfort 98 Listings
  • Converse 419 Listings
  • Fair Oaks Ranch 77 Listings
  • Floresville 185 Listings
  • Garden Ridge 40 Listings
  • Helotes 230 Listings
  • Hill Country Village 7 Listings
  • La Vernia 158 Listings
  • Lakehills 103 Listings
  • Leon Valley 16 Listings
  • Live Oak 66 Listings
  • Mico 119 Listings
  • New Braunfels 1148 Listings
  • Olmos Park 14 Listings
  • San Antonio 9471 Listings
  • Schertz 319 Listings
  • Seguin 232 Listings
  • Selma 72 Listings
  • Shavano Park 27 Listings
  • Spring Branch 462 Listings
  • Terrell Hills 42 Listings
  • Universal City 88 Listings
  • Windcrest 34 Listings
  • Hollywood Pk 9 Listings

San Antonio real estate and property information provided by Kimberly Howell Properties. Kimberly Howell Properties does not assume any liability or responsibility for the operation or content of any of the linked resources, nor for any of the interpretations, comments, graphics, or opinions contained therein. All information deemed reliable, but not guaranteed.

KJH Properties, Inc. is a licensed real estate brokerage in the State of Texas, Equal Opportunity Employer, and supporter of the Fair Housing Act.

TREC Information About Brokerage Services | TREC Consumer Protection Notice | Privacy Policy

All content © 2009-2020 Kimberly Howell Properties, unless otherwise noted.